Belfair worker dies in golf maintenance yard wreck

A 24-year-old Bluffton man working in maintenance at Belfair died Friday morning when he drove a utility vehicle under a parked semitrailer used to haul pine straw, authorities said.

Joseph Belesky was pronounced dead at the scene by Beaufort County Coroner Ed Allen around 11:30 a.m. in Belfair's golf maintenance yard at 1 Dillon Drive, off U.S. 278 across from Plantation Business Park.

Belesky was single and lived in town.

"He was operating a John Deere Gator and ran up underneath a parked, 40-foot box trailer," Allen said. "The vehicle was pinned under the trailer.

I've already reported it to OSHA (Occupational Health and Safety Administration). I did that before he was extricated."

OSHA investigators from the Columbia office will investigate the circumstances, he said.

Belesky's body was taken to the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston for an autopsy today.

No one witnessed the collision, Allen and Bluffton Police Capt. Bryan Norberg said.

"We're estimating it happened between 8 and 9:30 a.m.," Allen said.

Someone in the yard saw a problem and called Bluffton Police, who responded around 11:30 a.m., Norberg said. Beaufort County EMS and the Bluffton Township Fire District also responded.

The utility vehicle was a Gator TX Turf model. The trailer was detached and carried pine straw for landscaping, Norberg said.

"The collision is under investigation to determine the cause of the incident," he said.

Belfair General Manager David Porter could not be reached for comment Friday afternoon.

Comments are welcome, so long as they are civil. A Facebook account is required. Abuse may result in the commenter being permanently blocked. Personal attacks are strictly prohibited. We reserve the right to remove any comments at any time.